Title: Light on Fire Island
Author: Marlene Bateman
Publisher: Covenant
Release Date: February, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59811-552-9
Size: 320 pages, 6×9, softcover
Genre: Romantic Suspense
In 1921, Celena Jackson fled Fire Island with a heavy heart. Before her mother’s tragic death she’d promised to care for her young brother, Joshua, and teach him the gospel. But her father, Matthew, a lighthouse keeper devastated by the loss of his wife, banished Celena for refusing to renounce her Mormon faith.
Five years later, when Matthew suffers serious injuries and Joshua pleads for Celena’s help, she returns to her childhood home with a painful tangle of emotions. Can she love and forgive the headstrong, embittered father who cast her out? Celena’s arrival catches the eyes of two approving gentlemen, as well as the suspicion of islanders who want control of the vacant lighthouse. Joshua convinces Celena to step forward as the new lighthouse keeper. When acts of vandalism begin to escalate, it’s clear that someone on the island wants her gone—but who? More complexities arise as Celena makes a shocking discovery that turns her past inside out.
Then the web of intrigue on the island turns deadly, with Celena at its very center. Against a backdrop of ocean waves and rich sunsets, this novel of suspense, romance, and reconciliation explores hidden motives and surprising secrets, the power of promises kept, and the hope of light found in unexpected places. Against a backdrop of ocean waves and rich sunsets, this novel of suspense, romance, and reconciliation explores hidden motives and surprising secrets, the power of promises kept, and the hope of light found in unexpected places.
I love the mystery that is woven into the story it makes it so exciting and the story seems to jump of the page just from reading the summary.
I thought this was a fantastic story. I had a difficult time in the beginning 20 pages as there were SO many characters to learn right off the bat and keeping them straight was tough. After that, the story moved quickly, the characters each found their own voices and personalities, and the mystery/suspense took over. I thought it was a romance when I picked it up, but it was much more about Celena's relationships with her father and brother that pulled me in. It really was about not making assumptions, and learning to forgive 🙂 (less)